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BBC Africa Live

Natasha Booty

That's all from BBC Africa Live for 2018. We hope you enjoy the festive break. You can keep up-to-date with what's happening across the continent by listening to the Africa Today podcast or checking the BBC News website.

A reminder of Friday's wise words:

Quote Message: Once a child eats what he has stayed awake for, he falls asleep." from An Igbo proverb sent by Henry Osita Chukwu in Lagos, Nigeria.

Surgery success for conjoined twins

Sophia and Adja were joined by the sternum, sharing a part of the body called the pericardium, which is a sac that surrounds and protects the heart. The two-day-old infants were also joined at the liver.

"It's an operation requiring great precision, that was carried out for the first time at Albert Royer following weeks of preparation," the hospital said in a statement on Thursday.

Cash shortage hits Liberia's Christmas shoppers

The streets of Liberia’s capital, Monrovia, are usually heaving with Christmas shoppers at this time of year – crowding around vendors to buy in treats for the festivities.

But this week hawkers have been standing around for hours without a single customer showing interest.
“It is a troubling sign when you have more sellers than buyers,” a honey seller on Carey Street told me.

The major reason for this is that for more than a month now people have not been able to get hold of cash from their banks – and that’s where the crowds are.

Someone wanting to withdraw, for example, 25,000 Liberia dollars ($160: £127) is given just 5,000 Liberian dollars ($36) – and that is after waiting days in a queue.

The cash shortage appears linked to the mystery over the alleged disappearance in March of more than $100m-worth (£76m) of newly printed bank notes intended for the central bank.

The notes allegedly vanished from containers in Monrovia’s port and airport - and the government ordered an investigation in September – though that is likely to take months, if not years, to complete.

AFPCopyright: AFP

There have been protests about the newly printed money which is alleged to be missingImage caption: There have been protests about the newly printed money which is alleged to be missing

Meanwhile, central bank governor Nathaniel Patray has denied the money is missing, and has also said there is no cash shortage.

He accused the banks of “playing games” as the government injected $25m into the economy in July to shore up the falling value of the Liberian dollar - though how exactly this was done has remained a subject of public
debate.

Most Christmas days will see children playing on the beaches and hanging out at entertainment arcades. But with no money to celebrate, most people are likely to be staying indoors.

As if pre-empting this, President George Weah, the former footballer who came to office in January, advised people to remain at home to play “gospel songs and Christmas carols”.

This has done little to soothe the disappointment of the many Liberians who love the traditions of Christmas.

Madagascar captain: 'We're more than a movie'

In October, Madagascar celebrated an unlikely sporting success story, as successive 1-0 victories over Equatorial Guinea sealed their place at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.

The squad are now hoping their achievement will bring footballing fame to a nation which is internationally associated with DreamWorks' movie called Madagascar .

It was a hugely popular animated film from 2005, and if you search for the country's name online, you get a lot more hits for the adventures of Alex the Lion and his friends than you do for sporting success.

But the turnaround in Madagascar's footballing fortunes is worthy of a film of its own.

In their previous four qualifying campaigns they had won just one of 16 games, finished bottom of their group twice and failed to even advance from the preliminary rounds on the other two occasions.

It resulted in the authorities barring him earlier this week from performing in East African country.

Diamond Platnumz's hit song Mwanza contains the Swahili word for "horny", and dancers are seen in a video simulating sex.

The Tanzanian star shared his video statement to social media. In it, he sits next to fellow musician Rayvanny and says:

Quote Message: With utmost humility, we would like to apologise to our esteemed United Republic of Tanzania, Ministry of Information, Culture and Sports and our National Arts Council and everyone who felt offended by our performance of the song Mwanza at the Wasafi festival.

With utmost humility, we would like to apologise to our esteemed United Republic of Tanzania, Ministry of Information, Culture and Sports and our National Arts Council and everyone who felt offended by our performance of the song Mwanza at the Wasafi festival.

Quote Message: We are doing our best to be good role models in this nation, but to be human is to err. We made a mistake in performing a banned song. We promise not to repeat that mistake, we would also urge our fans and fellow artists to be good ambassadors of our Tanzanian culture."

We are doing our best to be good role models in this nation, but to be human is to err. We made a mistake in performing a banned song. We promise not to repeat that mistake, we would also urge our fans and fellow artists to be good ambassadors of our Tanzanian culture."

He has already served a 20-year sentence for his part in the deaths of 10 Belgian UN
peacekeeping staff in Rwanda in 1994.

The murders triggered the departure
of Belgian peacekeepers from Rwanda - a key development in the events
which led up to the genocide, in which around 800,000 ethnic
Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed.

Ntuyahaga was released from a Belgian
jail in June but remained in a refugee centre as he sought asylum in Belgium.

ICC warns against election violence in DR Congo

AFPCopyright: AFP

Police have fired tear gas in Kinshasa this week, where rallies have been banned by the city authoritiesImage caption: Police have fired tear gas in Kinshasa this week, where rallies have been banned by the city authorities

The government has accused supporters of an opposition candidate, business tycoon Martin Fayulu, of instigating election violence. Mr Fayulu's campaign has rejected the charge.

ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in the statement:

Quote Message: Anyone who incites or participates in mass violence, by ordering, soliciting, encouraging or otherwise contributing to crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC is liable to prosecution before the court.

Anyone who incites or participates in mass violence, by ordering, soliciting, encouraging or otherwise contributing to crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC is liable to prosecution before the court.

Quote Message: No-one should doubt my determination to investigate such crimes and to prosecute them when conditions as defined by the Rome Statute are met."

No-one should doubt my determination to investigate such crimes and to prosecute them when conditions as defined by the Rome Statute are met."

The presidential election had been scheduled for Sunday, but is now due to take place on 30 December.

The Electoral Commission made the announcement on Thursday, saying a delay in deploying voting materials to polling sites after a fire last week was behind the move.

'Bizarre' new Sierra Leone plant identified

The aquatic herb was found in a waterfall in the Sewa RiverImage caption: The aquatic herb was found in a waterfall in the Sewa River

A "bizarre, pillar-like" plant from Sierra Leone has been identified along with more than 100 new species of plant and fungus worldwide in the last year.

Prof Aiah Lebbie spotted the unusual specimen clinging to rocks near a waterfall in the Sewa River and sent a sample to Britain's Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, where it was identified as a new species. The plant, Lebbiea Grandiflora, has been named after him.

Plants that are new to science are still being described, at a rate of about 2,000 a year.

Other new species identified by the Royal Botanic Gardens include a insect-eating pitcher plant
from the Philippines, exotic orchids and climbers with untapped medicinal powers.

Many of the plants could have uses for humans, including as food and medicine.

But the botanists warn
that many of their new discoveries are already under threat of extinction.

Egypt star Mo Salah meets partially sighted fan from viral video

Egypt and Liverpool striker Mo Salah has hosted a partially sighted Liverpool fan who was caught on camera celebrating Salah's recent goal against Napoli. Mike Kearney was filmed in the stadium listening as Salah's goal was described to him. The video went viral.